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Making Product

In Summary: Product is not something you 'ship'. Product is everything. Every interface, every message, every ad, every interaction. Any poor user experience - from using the software to talking on the phone with customer support - can sink you if overlooked.

So, when people want to spend time defining Product Management, ask why? We're in the service delivery and design business now.

In Summary: Product Managers often have a low opinion of Sales people, but a strong relationship between the two teams is critical for success.

Despite their reputation, few Sales people lie intentionally. It's the high pressure nature of their role that makes them prone to short-term thinking and to sell features over value. If they make things up, it's often the fault of the Product Manager for failing to provide them with enough information about the product.

Good Product Managers recognise the value that Sales can bring to the product. They have daily contact with customers and possess valuable insight into what's working vs. what can be improved.

By articulating the strategic value of the product, and keeping them updated about the roadmap and development plans, Product Managers can establish a mutually beneficial relationship with Sales.

In Summary: In part 2 of his series on Good Product Managers, Sunit lists the 10 key habits and behaviours that define PM success.

Good Product Managers are leaders, but not necessarily from the front. They must take on a variety of roles at various times in order to move the product forward. Good PMs plan meticulously and sweat the details; they are 'obsessively paranoid but eternally optimistic' (great line). Good PMs are decisive and recognise that a decision made today is better than one delayed till tomorrow.

In short, a good PM takes on a lot of noise to ensure the team is able to build greatness.

Talking Product

In Summary: David Cancel is a serial founder and former CPO of Hubspot. He kicked off a huge debate recently when he said previous experience didn't matter when hiring PMs. He is also reshaping the traditional product organisation.

The Product Teams at Drift work without roadmaps, release plans, process and deadlines. How do they do this? Engineers at Drift 'own' products end to end - from the code, to QA, to customer feedback.

David establishes themes and metrics for the year and then empowers engineers to work out how to do this and makes them accountable for the results.

In Summary: If you enjoyed reading his excellent slidedeck on the Art of Product Management recently, here's a chance to hear Sachin presenting it in detail at Wharton Business School.

Product managers drive the vision, strategy, design, and execution of their product. While one can quickly comprehend the basic responsibilities of the role, mastering each of these dimensions is truly an art form that requires constant honing.

Drawing on examples from Stewart Butterfield (Slack) and Elon Musk and covering personas, segmentation and design, Sachin deep dives into each dimension but advises Product Managers to limit how many dimensions they innovate upon.

In Summary: For Product Managers, a lack of stakeholder traction can often be a bigger roadblock than a lack of customer traction. It’s vital PMs identify who these folks are and turn them into advocates for their product.

Sara identifies 3 types of stakeholders (the executive, the team itself and support functions like legal), all of whom need to buy in to the PM's plan for it to proceed smoothly.

Product Managers can’t do their job if people don’t trust them. Gaining trust means managing expectations, ensuring people feel listened to and using data (not opinion) to drive decision-making.

In Summary: In any Product Management interview there will be a time when you get to ask questions of the interviewer. This is an important opportunity to understand the company you are considering joining and not one to be wasted.

Jessica lists 5 of the most incisive questions you can ask (as well as who to ask) if you want to find out what it's really like behind the scenes.

"What was the last thing you shipped?" is key if you want to understand how easy it is to get things done, "What drives product decisions" is a good way to understand how the company uses data and "What is the hardest thing about doing product?" will indicate if there is an honest view on how things can be improved.

In Summary: With a typical lack of explanation, Apple recently upped its game in the appstore. Product Managers and developers (used to baking 7-10 days approval time into their release plans) suddenly found their apps approved within 24 hours - celebration ensued as well as disbelief.

Why Apple have chosen to do this is the subject of much debate. Most agree that, with iPhone growth peaking and no new products on the horizon, they are beginning to focus on services as a key source of revenue growth. Perhaps it's just good housekeeping. A supply chain guy at heart, Tim Cook hates long queues and is very good at reducing them.